What we know now about the Scottsdale school district investigations

Hundreds of Scottsdale residents, parents and teachers line the street outside Coronado High School Feb. 13, 2018, ahead of a school board meeting to call for new district leadership.
Ryan Santistevan/The Republic

Hundreds of Scottsdale residents, parents and teachers line the street outside Coronado High School Feb. 13, 2018, ahead of a school board meeting to call for new district leadership.
Ryan Santistevan/The Republic

Hundreds of Scottsdale residents, parents and teachers line the street outside Coronado High School Feb. 13, 2018, ahead of a school board meeting to call for new district leadership.
Ryan Santistevan/The Republic

Scottsdale Unified School District Superintendent Denise Birdwell listens during a governing-board meeting Jan. 30, 2018. The board accepted the resignation of former CFO Laura Smith, who resigned after payments to a company she had ties with were reported.
Michael Chow/The Republic

Denise Birdwell became interim Scottsdale superintendent in January 2016. She has faced criticism this year for her "Coronado Success Initiative" and what critics call questionable hiring practices.
Joshua Bowling/The Republic

Scottsdale Unified School District board president Barbara Perleberg (left) and superintendent Denise Birdwell leave for executive session during a governing board meeting Jan. 30, 2018. The board accepted the resignation former CFO Laura Smith, who resigned after payments to a company she had ties with were uncovered.
Michael Chow/The Republic

Hundreds of Scottsdale residents, parents and teachers line the street outside Coronado High School Feb. 13, 2018, ahead of a school board meeting to call for new district leadership.(Photo: Ryan Santistevan/The Republic)

Questions began swirling around the district of some 24,000 students in early 2017. Parents initially were concerned by a lack of community input on a school renovation project, but their questions broadened as their concerns deepened. They soon raised questions about district finances, bidding practices, potential conflicts of interest and cronyism.

The school board and Birdwell largely dismissed the complaints, which grew louder. In November, the district hired an outside attorney to conduct its own investigation.

The board approved the statement of charges against Birdwell on March 20, including that she failed to disclose a substantial personal interest in Hunt & Caraway Architects, the firm she recommended and later approved for the district to hire.

Birdwell received a $15,000 check from Hunt & Caraway's Brian Robichaux while she was negotiating to join the Scottsdale district in January 2016. A second payment, which went to someone with whom Birdwell shares a joint bank account, followed in April 2016.

Later in the statement of charges, the district notes Birdwell shares an account with the sister of Louis Hartwell, who was the district's chief operations officer. The Arizona Republic has reported that the two live in the same home. Birdwell has said they are friends and she rents a room.

The district's eight pages of allegations against him largely pertained to sloppy procurement related to millions of dollars in school renovation projects. For instance, the statement of charges allege he approved work with blanket purchase orders that offered no line-item details.

Louis Hartwell(Photo: Scottsdale Unified School District)

He also allegedly approved payments to Hunt & Caraway Architects at a higher-than-negotiated rate.

The document notes Hartwell claims on multiple websites to have a bachelor's degree from University of Kentucky and an MBA from Rutgers University, although he holds neither degree. He did not make the false claims on his district application, but the "false claims publicly undermines his credibility and reputation for truthfulness," according to the statement of charges.

His position in the district requires an MBA, which he does not have, the document notes.

Hartwell failed to disclose recent work history on his district application, including that he previously worked in the Higley Unified School District, which would have disclosed his business ties to Birdwell. She previously served as Higley's superintendent.

While Birdwell hired Hartwell as a contractor and an employee during her tenure leading the Higley Unified School District, she also hired her roommate's son, Hartwell's nephew.

Smith faced conflict-of-interest concerns over her ties to a Mesa-based consulting firm.

Smith, who served as the district's CFO less than a year, previously co-owned and led Professional Group Public Consulting, which did work for the district. Smith disclosed that potential conflict of interest, but she did not disclose that her sister now leads the company.

Susan Segal, the outside attorney handling the district's investigation, said Smith's conflicts of interest violate state law and district policy. Segal questioned whether the alleged violation was inadvertent, as Smith contended in her resignation letter.

An Auditor General's report released May 14 says Smith received $28,430 from PGPC after she was hired by the district. Smith reportedly divested her ownership in PGPC, but she continued to receive commission, hourly wages, travel and other reimbursements, according to the report.

"Although Ms. Smith should have known she was required to disclose her substantial interest in PGPC and refrain from participating in any district decisions affecting PGPC, she failed to do either," the report states.

What is the Arizona AG's civil lawsuit about?

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Scottsdale residents wait to see if the school board gives severance packages for Superintendent Denise Birdwell and chief Operating Officer Louis Hartwell during a special Scottsdale school board meeting on April 6, 2018.
Cheryl Evans/The Republic

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The AG's Office alleges the district, an architecture firm hired by the district and its former principal architect violated state procurement laws in selecting construction companies for two school projects, according to the civil suit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Feb. 22.

The AG's Office alleges Brian Robichaux, former principal with Hunt & Caraway Architects, unlawfully influenced the outcome of the bid process for construction companies at Hohokam and Cheyenne elementary schools.

The AG's Office found another problem with Robichaux's work on the committee, "ostensibly as the statutorily required registered architect," that selected a construction manager for work at Hohokam Elementary. State law requires that such committees include at least one registered architect or engineer. Robichaux was not a registered architect in Arizona, so the contracts should be voided, the complaint says.

The district, in an agreement with the AG's Office, suspended the construction management contract at Hohokam Elementary School and convened a new selection committee to re-evaluate the construction management contract at Cheyenne Traditional School.

Any other concerns related to Hunt & Caraway?

The district hired Hunt & Caraway in early 2016 to provide information about the cost of renovations to help district officials shape a proposed bond request that went to voters later that year, records show.

Hunt & Caraway sought payment for that work weeks before it was awarded the 2016 contract for a master-plan analysis. According to Segal, the outside attorney the district hired to investigate concerns, Hunt & Caraway was qualified to work for Scottsdale schools based on a 2013 bid.

After voters approved the $229 million bond request, the architectural firm was awarded the renovation contract with no further bidding process.

Segal found the district did not break the law in hiring Hunt & Caraway, although the district may have overpaid the firm. Segal also reported that Hunt & Carway failed to disclose its then-president, co-owner and principal architect, Robichaux, was convicted of a felony in 1998. The felony theft charge involved a contract with the Arizona Department of Transportation. Court records do not show that Robichaux ever made full restitution.

He resigned from the architecture firm in November.

Concerns about Hunt & Caraway Architects and Robichaux again surfaced in the district's statement of charges against Birdwell that the board adopted March 20. Topping the list of allegations is that Birdwell received multiple payments for "significant amounts" from Robichaux in 2015 and 2016 and yet she failed to disclose a substantial personal interest in Hunt & Caraway Architects.

Critics then began raising concerns about Birdwell's two hires, Smith and Hartwell. Feeling the board was dismissing their concerns, Scottsdale parent Karen Treon sent a memo to the AG's Office requesting an investigation into both hires.

On March 20, following the district's statement of charges against Birdwell and Hartwell, Treon said she was relieved but disappointed it took the board so long to acknowledge problems. "The public has been raising serious concerns for a year. The Board chose to ignore, dismiss and threaten concerned citizens rather than investigate. I truly wish that they had done their jobs months ago instead of running interference for Birdwell and allowing so much damage to occur."

Among the statement of charges against Birdwell the school board approved March 20 is an allegation that she falsely told the board that she informed the risk management trust about hiring the outside attorney and it was authorized. Birdwell was directed to reimburse the district for the $4,312.50 legal bill but did not do so until a day after The Republic wrote about it.

Is the controversy impacting teachers?

Hundreds of Scottsdale residents, parents and teachers line the street outside Coronado High School Feb. 13, 2018, ahead of a school board meeting to call for new district leadership.(Photo: Ryan Santistevan/The Republic)

Birdwell's education changes upset many Scottsdale parents and educators. The discontent began shortly after Birdwell forced all educators at Coronado High School to reapply for their jobs last school year. She says it was necessary to jump-start transformation at the underperforming high school. Some parents and educators say it was poorly communicated.

Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane praised Birdwell for improvements at Coronado in public remarks earlier in February.

Birdwell also changed the chain of command for school psychologists. More than half of the district's 28 psychologists resigned or retired by the end of the 2016-17 school year.

The teachers union issued a rare vote of "no confidence" in Birdwell and the school board in January. At the meeting, Birdwell made reference to "politically motivated individuals who like to shift the focus of the Scottsdale district away from accountability and learning."

"We find ourselves being bullied online, cyberattacks, personal attacks, harassment of a district that is truly focused on learning," Birdwell said in prepared remarks at a packed meeting.

Birdwell is longtime Arizona educator

Birdwell was an assistant superintendent in the Dysart Unified School District in Surprise from 2004 to 2007. She then moved to Higley Unified School District in Gilbert.

She retired as Higley superintendent in 2015.

Scottsdale hired Birdwell as interim superintendent in January 2016 after David Peterson’s abrupt resignation. In late 2016, the school board approved a permanent contract with Birdwell through June 2019.

Who hired Birdwell?

The Scottsdale school board has five elected board members who serve four-year terms.